Paper Number
1012
Paper Type
Complete Research Paper
Abstract
The ecosystem is a key adaptive structure that joins hierarchies and markets as the third pillar of modern business theory. While competition has been at the center of economic thinking, cooperation has recently gained greater attention. Borrowing from biology, we conceive an ecosystem as symbiotic relationships among participants that span cooperation to competition. We then use the vocabulary of symbiosis to analyze the relationships observed in ecosystems facilitated by digital technology. We show how biological symbiosis can help us interpret a world of digitally enabled ecosystems, a phenomenon we refer to as digital symbiosis. We further show how this novel theoretical understanding can inform policymaking for mitigating ecosystems’ adverse societal impacts.
Recommended Citation
Safadi, Hani and Watson, Richard T., "Digital Symbiosis: A New Perspective on Digital Ecosystems for Understanding Their Influence" (2024). ECIS 2024 Proceedings. 1.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/is_governance/track21_is_govern/1
Digital Symbiosis: A New Perspective on Digital Ecosystems for Understanding Their Influence
The ecosystem is a key adaptive structure that joins hierarchies and markets as the third pillar of modern business theory. While competition has been at the center of economic thinking, cooperation has recently gained greater attention. Borrowing from biology, we conceive an ecosystem as symbiotic relationships among participants that span cooperation to competition. We then use the vocabulary of symbiosis to analyze the relationships observed in ecosystems facilitated by digital technology. We show how biological symbiosis can help us interpret a world of digitally enabled ecosystems, a phenomenon we refer to as digital symbiosis. We further show how this novel theoretical understanding can inform policymaking for mitigating ecosystems’ adverse societal impacts.
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